Friday, June 9, 2017

Our little Cecilia turned 16 months on Wednesday... 16 months!! I can't believe how fast time is going these days. It's been fun to see her first few months show up in my Timehop lately, but it's also a reminder that these days fly by. I thought I'd hop on here this morning to do a quick update on our baby girl.

As you can tell from this photo... she's happy. So happy, all of the time.

We were just in the doctor's office due to a nasty virus she was fighting so we got current stats on her. Well, the doctor and I are not sure the length is correct, but she weighs 18lbs 4oz.

Cecilia says quite a few words and is always talking. I didn't think any little kiddo could talk as much as Amelia did, but Cecilia is definitely trying her best to follow in big sister's footsteps. My favorite is when she wants more food or water. She hands me her plate or cup and says "more... p... p" (more, please please). Already rocking some great manners. Then there's the times when she lifts her own foot up to her nose and says "pew pew". She makes me laugh all day.

She's busy! So incredibly busy. If she's awake, she's moving. She's really into pretending now. We've been keeping Amelia's old play kitchen in the living room lately and she's always bringing us a dish and spoon and pretends to feed us. That usually leads to her cracking herself up.

She's obsessed with Amelia. So much so in fact that when she realized Amelia was awake and in the bathroom this morning she went over and started banging on the door, hollering and clapping "YAYA YAYA". She was so excited she was awake. That's the usual scene too when Amelia gets home from school. Their bond is so sweet.

Cecilia loves being outside. It doesn't matter if it's super hot or cold and windy, she wants to be out wandering around. She's walking so fast now, bordering on running some days, but she always stays close to us and doesn't try to run off.

She's a pretty good sleeper. The sickness she had set her back a little bit and I spent almost every night during that time awake with her on my chest. She just wouldn't let me put her down in her crib, but so far this week we're getting back on track.

Oh... one of the most exciting things. She's gone potty on her potty chair a couple of times now. She thinks it's pretty cool and says "yay" while clapping for herself.

This girl is a FaceTime addict. If she hears someone calling us on FT she comes walking over as fast as she can and wants to chat.

She's still loves to snuggle and I still love that soooo much!! Every nap and every night I still snuggle her to sleep. Can't get enough. I can't usually tell she's tired when she comes walking over to me with a blanket saying she wants up.

Cecilia is pretty social. She likes to wave to everyone at the store and has her own little fan club at Amelia's school. If she knows someone well she's not too concerned with my being close by, but if she doesn't know someone she usually gets very clingy. She'll still smile at people, but I can't be out of sight when she's around too many people she doesn't know.

So that's a little snapshot of our girl at the moment. She's all smiles all the time and so incredibly sweet.

Tuesday, May 23, 2017

The weather we are having right now has me so excited for summer break!! Less than a month until Mark and Amelia are both out of school and I can't stop thinking about all of the fun things we want to do. Since we're so excited we decided to make a summer bucket list. This list is a mix of things that Amelia, Mark and I all want to do and I can't wait to see how many items we are able to cross off!

I know this picture doesn't really have anything to do with this post... but this bird is so damn cute with his bangs that I had to find an excuse to use it. It also reminded me that I haven't shared anything about the trip we made up to Vancouver B.C. (where I took this photo).

* Go on several camping trips
* Use our zoo pass and invite family and friends to join us
* Dates with Mark
* Spend time working in the yard
* Plant a garden
* Go to OMSI
* Create new art
* Finish Cecilia's bedroom (my project)
* Explore local areas
* Play tennis with Amelia (and my sisters too)
* Visit Enchanted Forest
* Go on walks with my girls
* Have girl nights with Amelia and Cecilia... painting toes and watching girly movies
* Let the girls put their toes in the sand on the Oregon Coast
* Have a bbq with friends
* Go swimming at Kahneeta (possibly for Mark's birthday)
* Cheer Amelia on at her first 5k race
* Practice kindness by doing things for people we know as well as strangers
* Take a trip to Whistler (in the works... sister and kid trip)
* Meet the cousins half way for a Dalles playdate
* Have Liam over for his first ever sleepover away from his parents
* Get our sewing machines out and create new things (Amelia and I)
* Work with Cecilia on potty training (she is very interested)
* Organize play dates with some mamas and kids from mom's group
* Plan something special for our anniversary
* Complete house projects (install molding, redo closets, paint, etc)
* Sort through the stuff in the basement (and hopefully get rid of a lot)
* Eat as paleo as possible
* Use Amelia's telescope
* Spend time in Hood River
* Complete my photography location binder (with Erica's help)
* Picnics in the park
* Play hard
* Be active every day
* Read a book (me... because I don't have time with two kids)
* Go bowling
* Visit farmer's markets
* Take Amelia to the Portland Saturday Market

I'm sure we could keep going, but this list is the majority of our summer goals. I want to be busy and I want to focus on my family as much as possible. Making memories is so important.

Saturday, April 22, 2017

Oh my goodness... we had the most wonderful Easter. I know, I'm totally behind on posts, but I just have to share anyway. Even thought it was Cecilia's second Easter, it was the first she was actually old enough to partake in the festivities. It was a blast watching her experience dying eggs and doing an Easter egg hunt for the first time. It was also so precious watching Amelia help her out along the way.

We kicked off Easter weekend with a trip to see the bunny. Of course, matching dresses again this year. Gotta do it while I can. Eventually Amelia will be too old to want to match... or maybe not haha. A mom can dream, right?

This one was my favorite and the one we had printed

This one cracked me up. I wonder if her tiny self is looking at Amelia thinking "you actually think this bunny is cool"?

And of course I saved the funniest for last. The escape and that face. Overall Cecilia seemed to be okay with the Easter bunny. When we first walked up she was smiling a ton and wanted to touch his fur. Sitting with him clearly wasn't her favorite thing to do, but she didn't cry at all. I'd call that success!

Saturday evening we colored Easter eggs at my grandma's. Amelia, my little artist, always makes her eggs look so cool just by using regular dye. Cecilia was allowed to color two eggs, but when she kicked over an entire cup of dye that's when Mark put a stop to her egg dying career for this year. Poor baby haha.

Easter Sunday was a great day. Mark, the girls and I got up early and went to 8 o'clock mass and then let the girls open their Easter baskets when we got home. The Easter bunny was definitely nice to these two girls.

Cecilia's basket

Amelia's basket

We spent the rest of the day over at my grandma's house. Mom made dinner and my sisters, brother in-law, nephew, aunt, uncle and two cousins were there as well. It was so fun spending the day with some of my most favorite people. The Easter egg hunt was a huge success. Cecilia walked all over the yard picking up eggs. Mark held her hand to guide her around, but she really just wanted to do it all on her own. Dinner was delicious as always. The company was THE BEST! Such a wonderful day.

Of course, it wouldn't be an occasion if I didn't take photos of the girls together and photos of them with their cousin Liam. I swear, these kids are just the cutest three. Such adorable cousins and best buddies.

Here is my attempt at a cousin picture. I swear they love each other haha. No really, this picture is not a true reflection of their love. But, if you didn't know which kids had a photographer for a parent you'd probably be able to guess from this image. #bornposing

And because he did stop crying and looked so dang cute in his suit... my nephew Liam. Precious!!

Thursday, March 2, 2017

I have been a mom for eight years... how is that even possible? I feel like Amelia should still be a little three or four year old running around the house, not an eight year old! Our girls' birthdays are five days apart so it was celebration central in our world last month and I loved every second of celebrating them. So, this post is all about the older girl in my world... Amelia.

Amelia is a very special girl. She's smart, kind, polite, very well-behaved, fun, compassionate, sweet, sassy, hilarious, helpful and just totally awesome. I am so incredibly proud of the person she is becoming.

Here are some facts about 8 year old Amelia

* She is fairly shy, unless she knows you well

* She is very artistic/creative and is always crafting up something for someone
* She likes to do complex math problems for fun. No joke, she'll have me print off several sheets
at a time and then she blasts through them

* She's so kind and is always thinking of others

* Her favorite subjects in school are math and reading. She's pretty obsessed with both.

* She has been Irish dancing for almost 2 years now (April will be 2yrs)

* She LOVES animals

* Amelia has a rabbit named Rascal, a kitten named Tiger and five fish

* She loves to run and can't wait to join the track team next year. According to her PE teacher, she's

super fast.

* We joke that she's slightly OCD because she is often obsessed with cleaning things. She'll randomly

start dusting and wiping down every surface in sight... and then there's the

sweeping/mopping/vacuuming

* She has still never eaten a piece of meat, and she's a very picky eater.

* She loves to play Legos, make perler crafts and play with her horses
* Amelia would eat pancakes every day if we let her... obviously we don't
* She has been wearing glasses since she was five (she takes them off in most photos)
* She wants to be a large animal vet when she grows up
* Her favorite places to shop are Target, Nordstrom and any book store
* Her laugh is infectious
* Every night when she goes to bed she kisses her sister on the forehead and says "goodnight Cecilia,
you're the best sister in the entire world. I love you so much"

I really could go on and on with how awesome this girl is. I just love her so much. Below are more photos that I snapped the other day. She looks so grown up to me...

Saturday, February 25, 2017

Earlier this month, the 7th to be exact, our little Cecilia turned one year old. I don't even know how that happened so fast. Really, it went by fast with Amelia, but has gone by even faster with Cecilia.

Since I haven't shared much on here for a really long time, allow me to tell you a little about our Cecilia.

She's seriously the happiest baby I've ever seen. She is always smiling. If you do catch a rare instance of her crying, it doesn't last long. If you aren't paying attention you'll probably miss it.

She's obsessed with her sister. When Amelia leaves for school there are always tears.

The joy of being a parent and photographer... capturing moments like this

She's still super tiny. Under the 1% tiny, but she's very healthy, developmentally ahead of the game and sometimes eats more than Amelia.

give her all of the food

She says Mama, Dada, Ayaya (Amelia), Nana (her word for nursing), hi, yeah, nuh nuh (for night night) and other little jabbering that resembles words. She does answer when you ask her questions with a yes or no head shake.

7 months

She took her first steps around 10 months and full on walked the day after her first birthday. Before turning one she'd do about 9 steps at a time.

She is busy and moves constantly.

tea time with our kitten

She is the sweetest little thing... this picture below proves it!

those two little teeth and that smile... HEART MELTED!!!

Some other Cecilia facts
* She has strawberry blonde hair and blue eyes
* She hit 15 pounds at her one year check-up
* She has two teeth
* She still nurses to sleep every night (I LOVE the snuggles so no complaints here)
* She loves to give kisses and hugs (if she knows you, if not... forget it)
* She is obsessed with FaceTime and has to call someone at least once a day (usually Liam)
* She dances non stop. If there is music playing, she is dancing (and to the beat even)
* She loves to eat
* She squeals with excitement when she's outside in the wind and rain
* She fills our shoes with little treasures (sometimes it's toys, sometimes it's three shredded napkins)
* She cries when her sister goes to school
* She sits outside of Amelia's room, knocking on the door and saying Ayaya anytime she's gone
* She high fives, waves, blows kisses, makes funny noises, plays peek-a-boo and climbs on things
* She will sit and look through her books for a solid 20-30 minutes (the only time she sits still)
* She loves playing at the library
* She loves to brush her own hair
* She could swing for hours
* She was named after my sister's confirmation name (Cecilia) and mine (Kateri)
* When she got her first baby doll she knew exactly what to do. She kisses her, pats her on the back
and feeds her from toy bottles (it's funny how they just now that stuff)
* Cecilia is the patron saint of music (fitting for this girl) and Kateri is the only Native American saint
* For a solid 10 months she would scream her head off every night starting at 8pm if mommy wasn't
holding her. Thank you to those very patient family members that watched her during that time.
You are all saints for snuggling her anyway so this mommy could have a couple of date nights

Now that I'm back to my blogging ways I'm sure you'll be better acquainted with our precious itty bitty. She really has been such a blessing to our family. I waited so long for this girl and she's just the most perfect little lady. My heart is so full.

Sunday, February 19, 2017

I've been eager to jump back into the blogging world for some time now. I guess I never really wanted to take a break from here, it just sort of happened. Life got busy, I got tired... and did I mention life got busy? As we rang in 2017 I realized how sad I was that I had left so many moments and thoughts undocumented. Things I wish I had published to this space, but just didn't. Instead of jumping on the New Year's resolution bandwagon I decided to pick a word. Like many fellow bloggers and friends, I decided to choose a single word that would represent what I wanted for 2017.

This year I want more. More adventures, more memories, more dates with my husband and more time spent loving on my girls. More time with loved ones and more time catching up with those I don't see as often. More down time, more time to blog, more lifestyle photography of my own life. More crafting, more self growth and more time focusing on the things that make me happy.

So, as I finally get this written (almost three months into this new year) I plan to be around here more. I realize it'll take some time to back track and share what life has been like these past two years that I've only sporadically blogged, but I'm excited to finally sit down, put my fingers on the keys and share it all.

Saturday, October 15, 2016

Well once again it's been quite a while since I wrote a blog post. It's not because I don't want to write, it's because I'm just so busy and tired all of the time. It's hard to fit this in, no matter how badly I try. I thought with both girls in bed and Mark doing homework now would be the perfect time to hop on and give a little life update.

Amelia loves second grade. I still can't believe how fast she's growing up. She's always been phenomenal at math, but over the summer she also became obsessed with reading and now goes through a chapter book a day. We really need to visit the library more. I can't buy books as fast as she reads them. It's crazy. I love it though. There's something so wonderful about seeing your child become lost in another world through reading.

She's also doing great at Irish dancing. She's been dancing 1&1/2 years now and I think she's done really well. She has had a few competitions over the past couple of months and did an excellent job at each of them. What I really love about that girl is that she is such a great sport. I see girls crying when they don't win, or even crying when they win but someone gets a higher place than them. That's not Amelia. She's always so happy for her friends when they do well and she's very humble when she walks away with trophies. I like that she's competitive without showing it. I am so proud of her.

Cecilia turned 8 months old on the 7th of this month. Man this little one is already keeping me on my toes (and I LOVE IT). She started crawling at 7 months, pulls herself up on things, waves, gives kisses, is a total mommy's girl and is just happy all of the time. Really, I'm not just saying that because I'm her mommy. It is rare that she is crying... well, she does cry when someone unfamiliar tries to hold her. Amelia was that way too. She clung to the people who were around frequently and the people who put time and effort into forming a relationship with her. Cecilia is already becoming that way. I'm fine with that though. I never had to worry about Amelia running off away from me.

She loves her big sister. I mean, really loves her. She bounces and kicks when she sees her walk out of her classroom at the end of the day. She smiles and waves at Amelia non-stop, and she's always watching every move she makes. All of those fears about adding another child to our family, the ones where I thought Amelia would feel left out or I wouldn't have time for both, yeah... those fears were not necessary. Life with those two is perfect. Amelia fills the role of big sister in amazing fashion. She's always picking up her sister and snuggling her like crazy. She reads stories to her and gets in her play yard and spends hours being silly and making Cecilia smile.

I know a month back I said I was going to write about Cecilia's time in the hospital this summer, but then I got bronchitis and pink eye and before I knew it time had slipped away. I do look forward to sharing that with you. Failure to Thrive is a very stressful diagnosis, but after last week's appointment I am happy to say that our tiny 12lb 8oz eight month old is doing great! Her dietician gave her the go ahead to take 3 months off from appointments. What a relief. This whole experience has been a rollercoaster of emotions for me and at this point I feel really great about what we've done and how we've handled the situation to make sure our little one is healthy.

Mark started school last month. It'll be two years of chaos for us. He is already so busy with work and school and together we're trying to fit in family time. I feel bad that things are so crazy, but also blessed that I am able to stay home with the girls to keep it from becoming so stressful for them. I honestly don't know of anyone who works as hard as he does. He takes such great care of his family. The girls and I are definitely blessed with him.

Well, that's about all I can get in tonight. I'm off to pump... because that's my life. Feed baby, pump, take care of the girls, pump... and repeat. This motherhood gig is pretty awesome!!!